Police: Uber driver charged in Weymouth rape has skipped the country

Monday

Apr 16, 2018 at 11:26 PM

The Uber driver charged with raping a Weymouth woman posted bail after a few hours in jail and has skipped the county, police told the victim in the case.

Frederick Q. Amfo, 30, of 195 Independence Ave., Apt. 131, Quincy, posted $10,000 cash bail Friday and flew to his home country of Ghana, according to an email sent by Weymouth police to the victim on Monday.

The woman shared the email with The Patriot Ledger.

The 30-year-old woman said she is upset that Amfo is getting off easy and that she reported the rape so other women would not be harmed.

“I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else,” said the woman, whose name is being withheld because The Patriot Ledger does not identify sexual assault victims “I’m scorched-Earth mad.”

Prosecutors, the county sheriff’s office and court officials could not explain how Afmo was allowed to get on a plane or said they did not know his status.

Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey did not respond to messages requesting comment. His spokeswoman Margaret Krippendorf directed inquiries to Quincy District Court and the Norfolk County sheriff’s office.

Quincy District Court was closed Monday because of the holiday. Clerk Magistrate Arthur Tobin, reached at home, said he was still gathering information about what had made it possible for Amfo to leave the country.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said Monday night.

A Quincy District Court judge set Amfo’s bail during his arraignment on the rape charge Friday. Sheriff’s office spokesman David Weber said Monday that Amfo posted bail shortly before 5:30 p.m. Friday. Weber had no additional information.

The federal Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed an immigration detainer on Amfo, his court file said, but the agency could not be reached Friday or Monday to comment on Amfo’s status.

Weymouth Police wrote in a report that Amfo picked up the woman from her friend’s house in Quincy Center at 1:48 a.m. Sunday, April 8. Amfo drove her to Weymouth, but stopped the car several streets away in a dark area with no street lights, she told police. Amfo locked the doors, got into the back seat with the woman, overpowered and raped her, the report said.

Amfo told police he has been living in the United States in 2009 and attended Suffolk University, earning an accounting degree. He has driven for Uber for several years, he told police. An Uber spokesman said on Friday that Amfo had been removed as a driver from the app.

The woman said the Weymouth Police Department and the detective she dealt with had handled the case well and been kind to her, but she expressed anger with the court system, which she said allowed Amfo to leave the country and avoid prosecution.

“They should have held him until his passport was there,” she said. “It’s just a dropped ball.”